Staples man escapes injury in plane crash

STAPLES -- A Staples man flying a crop-dusting plane escaped injury after he was forced to make an emergency landing in a field south of Staples.

Kenneth Peterson, 40, was spraying fields July 17 when he lost his engine, the Todd County Sheriff's Department reported. Peterson put his single-engine, fixed wing plane down on the field and ran into some woods.

The Todd County Sheriff's Department was unaware of the crash July 17, and wasn't notified until a DNR worker spotted the plane being loaded onto a trailer Monday.

Peterson wasn't injured. The Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Agriculture Department also investigated the crash.